St. Helena, Main Street, c1908
Around the time of our amazing postcard visit to Sutter Home Winery in 1908, St. Helena was the bustling hub of the Upper Napa Valley and its wine industry. It was 60 miles north of San Francisco and lauded as an ideal place to live with a climate where fruits of all kinds grow in abundance. Much of St. Helena’s two-block downtown was built in the late 1880s and is very much recognizable today. A first-time visitor in 1908 wrote home, “This town is only one street, so I can see it all in one glance.” We still can. The large tree growing in the roadway, just in front of the streetcar on the left, has been removed.
Sutter Home Winery, near the southern edge of St. Helena, began life in 1874 as the John Thomann Winery. Thomann (1836–1900), a Swiss vineyardist, built his sizeable winery with an outward appearance of a simple barn- frame structure, but the walls of the lower floor were made of stone, sheathed with redwood siding. By the end of the decade he was annually producing 100,000 gallons of wine. In 1885, the enterprising Thomann purchased 147 acres on Howell Mountain, where he planted forty acres of red wine grapes and built a winery, Deer Park. Despite setbacks from phylloxera, his vintages averaged 200,000 gallons. In 1891, with failing health, he returned to Switzerland to live his last days. His Howell Mountain vineyard and winery were purchased by another Swiss, Emil Leuenberger (1857–1937). Upon Thomann’s death in 1900, Leuenberger and his wife Caroline acquired the St. Helena estate and renamed it Sutter Home, after Caroline’s father John Sutter, successful San Francisco businessman and former sea captain (not the famed Sacramento Valley pioneer John A. Sutter).
Sutter Home Wine & Distilling, Up Near St. Helena, 1908
In this amazing faded, hand-crafted old photo postcard, most likely unique, our visitors have preserved “a Sunday afternoon up near St. Helena, 40 miles from Vallejo” in May 1908. Their touring auto is parked in front of Sutter Home Wine & Distilling (the sign is barely visible on the winery front) as the two gentlemen and their lady companions, dressed in their Sunday best, pause for a photo break and hopefully a visit with the winery proprietor to enjoy a taste of the wines. From the sender’s note about the “great fleet show next week,” these two are naval men on weekend leave. A spectacular wine country postcard story. P A side story: The St Helena Star reported in November of 1908 that Mr. Leuenberger recently commissioned in New York a color picture showing the Sutter Home Winery and residence, grounds and tracks along the property front. “He has ordered 10,000 postcards and a large quantity of calendars” of the scene. What a treasure still to be unearthed!
Sutter Home Winery, Idle And Abandoned In 1946
Closed by Prohibition, the winery remained silent after Repeal until 1946, when it was purchased by the Trinchero family — “a dilapidated old barn, abandoned, waist high in weeds, dirt floors, and no electricity.” The Trincheros decided to keep the Sutter Home Winery name. As the story is told, since the name was painted across the roof in “horse-high” letters, it was much easier to keep the name rather than repaint the roof. Notwithstanding, they went on to make history with their premium Zinfandel production in the late 1960s while becoming one of the most successful wineries in America. Surely everyone of drinking age in the ‘60s remembers Sutter Home White Zinfandel! By 1990 it was the single best-selling wine in America – over 3.5 million cases. Today, Sutter Home is one of the largest family-run wineries in the U.S., and last time I looked, the old winery “barn” was still in use.
Sutter Home – A Beautiful Residence Near St Helena, Built 1884
With the valley’s original railway tracks running along Hiway 29 in the foreground, what a lovely c1910 postcard view of the original 1884 home of pioneer winemaker John Thomann, built and designed by architect Albert Schroepfer of Beringer Bros. and Spring Mountain Miravalle fame. When the Leuenbergers purchased the estate in 1904, they renamed it Chalet Bernensis after their Swiss home state of Bern. The home parcel and winery property (on the right, not shown) were divided in 1944 when Fred Baroldo bought the winery; Mrs. Leuenberger lived in the house until her death in 1949. Later the stately Victorian served as an upscale B & B /Antiques Shop from 1975 until the 1980s. In 1986, Sutter Home Winery bought the old home, reuniting the historic home and winery estate.
Thomann Winery As It Looked In 1878
If postcards had been around in 1878, this would have been a favorite! From: Illustrations of Napa County, California: with Historical Sketch, 1878, Smith & Elliott, Oakland. Facsimile Reprint Published by Valley Publishers, Fresno, 1974.
